Women detained in Montana for speaking Spanish settle case with US Border Agency

‘Speaking Spanish is not a reason to be racially profiled and harassed’

The two women who have settled their case with US Border Patrol over an incident (AP)

Two women who were detained when they were heard speaking Spanish in a small Montana town by the United States’ Border Patrol, have settled their claim with the agency, according to reports.  

The women, Ana Suda and Martha Hernandez, were said to have settled for an undisclosed amount, after a lawsuit was submitted against US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who acted on the women’s behalf.

In a statement released through the ACLU, which had taken the CBP to court over the matter in 2019, they said they were proud to be bilingual and that the US Border Patrol needed to reassess its policies.

“We stood up to the government because speaking Spanish is not a reason to be racially profiled and harassed,” said Ms Suda. “I hope that as a result of this case, CBP takes a hard look at its policies and practices. No one else should ever have to go through this again.”  

According to the New York Times, an agent with the US Border Patrol overheard the women speaking Spanish in a convenience store in Havre, Montana, on 16 May 2018, and arrested them both.

The agent, Paul O’Neill, told them he wanted to see their identification because he heard them speaking Spanish, which he alleged was “very unheard-of” in Havre, a town in which Hispanic residents make up 4 per cent of the population, according to census records.

Mr O’Neill’s supervisor and other Border Patrol agents arrived at the convenience store, according to the lawsuit seen by the Times, with a CBP supervisor telling Ms Suda that she and Ms Hernandez would not have been detained if they had spoken in French.

Both women were born in the United States, grew up speaking Spanish at home, and were Havre residents at the time of the incident.

ACLU’s executive director for Montana, Caitlin Borgmann, told the Times that both women had since moved away, for fear of their families’ safety and “local backlash” against the lawsuit.

CBP said in a statement that the settlement did not mean the agency had been held liable for the incident, and that Border Patrol agents “are trained to enforce US laws uniformly and fairly, and they do not discriminate based on religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.”

“CBP is committed to the fair, impartial and respectful treatment of all members of the trade and travelling public, and has memorialised its commitment to nondiscrimination in existing policies,” the agency added.